Welcome to NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Development podcast. I’m Monica Neubauer, your host. We are very excited to have Dr. Rodney Harrell from the AARP as our guest today.

 

Rodney Harrell, PhD, is the Vice President of Family, Home, and Community at AARP, where he leads national work on housing, livable communities, and aging in place. He created the AARP Livability Index™, guiding how we evaluate and design neighborhoods that truly work. With a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Maryland and a deep background in public policy and community development, Dr. Harrell brings data-driven actionable insights on how real estate intersects with longevity, lifestyle, and liveability. He is a housing specialist who focuses on housing for mature adults and people who want to become mature adults one day.

 

[:52] We are very excited to have Dr. Rodney Harrell from the AARP as our guest today. Welcome, Rodney!

[:57] Monica introduces Dr. Harrell and describes his role with the AARP and his focus on livable communities for mature adults and future mature adults.

[2:10 ] Monica is excited to talk with Dr. Harrell. She taught the Senior Real Estate Specialist Designation for many years. She brings up these points about 50-plus people: Boomers do not want to be called Seniors. The 50-plus market has three generations in it. What do the 50-plus want to be called today?

[2:40 ] Dr. Harrell says it’s important to consider that aging isn’t always the same. It’s not the same as it has been, and it’s not the same as it will be in the future. It’s not the same for everybody. Your aging journey is your journey.

[2:54 ] Dr. Harrell likes to think about people by age group. People who are 50 and older are part of the 50-plus population. More importantly, he thinks about people at life stages. What’s going on in their life, family, and self? Are you an empty nester, not driving, or having trouble with stairs?

[3:26 ] For thinking about people as a group, age ranges or life stages are useful. Dr Harrell likes to think of people as individuals.

[3:34 ] Monica is of an age where she could have grandchildren. She has grown children, and she could have grandchildren, but she doesn’t. She’s rearranging her life stage with some of the other things that go with grandchildren, but not having that mile marker.

[4:01 ] Dr. Harrell notes that we go through these different parts of life at different points. When he talks to people about housing decisions, he asks them to think about where they are today and where they think they will be in the future, not where someone tells them they should be.

[4:22 ] We should all think about our life journey. When we’re talking to folks who are buying real estate or making housing decisions, the more we can personalize and make this decision point about them, the better off we’ll be.

[4:51 ] Monica starts a discussion of the AARP Livability Index™. How do REALTORS® use it? Dr. Harrell and his colleagues at AARP created it 10 years ago. It’s the world’s first nationwide, neighborhood-based livability index.

[5:30 ] The index measures every neighborhood in the country across 61 indicators and creates seven category scores, including Housing, Transportation, the Environment, and Healthcare. Using the seven scores, it creates a combined score.

[5:48 ] Dr. Harrell and his team created the index with input from experts around the country to answer the question of what makes a community livable.

[4:54 ] What is the kind of community that people of all ages, incomes, and ability levels can age in? How do we measure that and put it in a way that anybody can grasp quickly? It took about three years to put the Index together. They’ve been improving it for 10 more years.

[6:15 ] Monica points out that tools like that are very interesting. It creates easy searchability. She has been looking at her own community with the AARP Livability Index™. It was interesting to see how the Index rates things and why her community had low scores in certain areas.

[6:52 ] Monica says the Livability Index is connected with the REALTORS® Property Resource®.

[7:08 ] Dr. Harrell says he loves the relationship the AARP Livability Index™ has with the RPR®. In the RPR®, you can see the Livability Index score and the category scores for this ZIP Code. Those tell you if the neighborhood has the options that people need as they are aging.

[7:32 ] These are things like transportation options, options to walk to things they might need, options for healthcare, and options to be outside in a healthy way. The Index measures a lot of things about each neighborhood.

[7:45 ] You can quickly access the scores through RPR® or go back to the AARP site from RPR® and see more details.

[7:59 ] Dr. Harrell talks about important factors for the Livability Index. Transparency. It doesn’t just give you a 13 for environment. It tells you about the water quality and air quality. It tells you the source for the figures, so you can find out more and try to improve it in your community.

[8:32 ] If you’re trying to buy a home, take that into account as one of the tradeoffs of living in this place. Dr. Harrell says many people make housing decisions without doing a thorough evaluation of how it might meet their needs today and tomorrow. The goal of the Index is to help fill that gap.

[8:50 ] The Index gives a lot of information, so people thinking about a neighborhood on the East side of town or the West side of town can look at the Index and find out about this neighborhood or that one.

[9:04 ] Dr. Harrell shares that there’s no perfect neighborhood. No neighborhood in the country gets 100 out of 100 on this Index. Each community has tradeoffs. Understanding those tradeoffs that you’re making to be in this place or that one helps you make a better decision for yourself.

[9:36 ] Dr. Harrell says they put together the Index to help you think about the future and the kinds of things you might need. Many people don’t think about the fact that if they’re driving today, they might not be driving tomorrow. On average, we outlive our driving years by several years.

[9:56 ] What might happen if you’re driving today, but will no longer want to or be able to? Having public transportation options or being able to walk to stores nearby becomes much more important. If you’ve bought a house but haven’t thought about it, that could be a challenge.

[10:17 ] The Index helps real estate customers think about their needs today and into tomorrow.

[10:27 ] Monica shares her experience using the Livability Index. It’s incredibly easy. She could see clearly the process they follow to get the scores. Real estate agents can use it as a resource when people ask, “Well, what’s it like in your area?” There’s so much in the Livability Index.

[11:19 ] Just going through the Livability Index will get them educated about their community.

[11:43 ] Dr. Harrell says they pored over each category of the Index with their technical advisor committee and their experts at the Public Policy Institute at AARP. They wanted something that would tell a narrative about transportation, opportunity, civic and social engagement, and more.

[12:03 ] The Index is about the types of things people want and how to measure that. It’s important to have things that can be measured. Not everything important is measurable. Over the years, one of the goals was to make it more user-friendly. Todney says, today, anybody can use it.

[12:31 ] It’s a great tool to supplement the other parts of your real estate journey.

[12:46 ] Monica says it led her right through it. She learned a lot in five minutes of easy clicking.

[14:14 ] Monica asks Dr. Harrell what he has learned about the aging population from this data. Dr. Harrell says that lived experience is so important because it gives us the background to understand ourselves and where we are.

[14:43 ] Dr. Harrell says it amazes him how many people don’t think they’re going to get older than they are today. Whatever life stage they’re in is where their mindset is. They address the issues they have at that life stage. One of the big things at AARP is thinking about the future.

[15:17 ] The AARP has an initiative called The Future of Housing. Dr. Harrell asks people who are buying a home to think about the future remodeling they may need. What options may they need, such as a zero-step entrance, a bedroom on the first floor, and nearby transportation?

[16:08 ] If you think about not just where you are today, but where you might be tomorrow, you’re going to make better decisions, no matter what decision you make. It will be better if you think about the future.

[16:18 ] Monica thinks the AARP Livability Index™ and this podcast episode might be good tools for real estate agents to share with their customers.

[17:10 ] Dr. Harrell says the AARP launched the Livability Index at the American Planning Association’s National Conference. It shows urban planners designing communities, AARP’s suggestions for housing near transportation, stores, libraries, and parks.

[17:34 ] That’s valuable for REALTORS® as well. They can talk to clients and say AARP thinks that it’s important to have someplace where you can walk for exercise and have access to stores, libraries, and places where you